Francois I of France

Francois I of France (12 September 1494-31 March 1547) was the King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign he fought in the Italian Wars against the Habsburg Empire.

Biography
Coming to the throne in January 1515 at the age of 20, French king Francois I sought instant military glory as a necessary attribute of a Renaissance prince. Forming an alliance with Venice, he assembled an army to invade northern Italy and attack the Swiss, who were in control of Milan. With great daring he led his forces across the untried high Alpine passes, dragging heavy cannon along precarious tracks improvised by his engineers. This enabled him to debauch on to the north Italian plain from a wholly unexpected direction and catch the enemy cavalry unawares, taking the whole force prisoner. He then encamped outside Milan, offering liberal bribes to induce some of the Swiss mercenaries to go home. The remainder he defeated in a costly battle at Marignano. It was a prestigious beginning to the French king's reign.

A Bitter Feud


Francois spent most of the rest of his life fighting the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He and Charles developed a bitter enmity, standard dynastyic rivalry sharpened by the French king's resentment at seeing his own candidature for the imperial throne rejected. In February 1525, Francois led his army into battle against imperial forces at Pavia. He fought with his usual impulsive courage, but failed to coordinate his cavalry, which he led in person, with his foot soldiers. He also allowed his horsemen to move in front of his cannon, blocking their line of fire.

These errors contributed to a catastrophe, with many French nobility killed and the king himself taken prisoner. Released after a period of captivity on terms that he did not honor, Francois resumed war with the Habsburgs, fighting intermittently for the next two decades with limited success. He even made an alliance with the Ottoman Empire, fighting with the Muslims against the Habsburgs in the 1540s. His campaigns broadly maintained France's frontiers but never shook Habsburg predominance in Europe.